Being from Chicago I have always had a love / hate relationship with this area of the city. It lies at the South bend of Lake Michigan and encompasses the extreme Southeast side of Chicago, Hammond, Whiting, East Chicago, and Gary, Indiana. It is one of the most environmentally toxic areas in the country yet it held the industries that made Chicago the industrial and economic force it is today, from which the nickname "The City of Broad Shoulders"was derived.

Here is where the steel was forged that went on the trains to make the machinery that ran the nation. Here are the refineries, chemical plants, soap manufacturers,steel mills, scrap yards, assembly plants, refractor's and coke plants. The strategic location of Lake Michigan, and Chicago's massive rail industry allowed for the easy transport of both raw materials and finished goods.

I remember seeing these places as a child, ignorant of the mess they puked into the world, standing in awe as the mills flared and the refineries bellowed, with ships on the lake and the freight trains straining by. A symphony of industry.

All that has changed.

-CARL COREY, JULY 2001